1 / 17

Educating Backpackers to the Great Barrier Reef

Educating Backpackers to the Great Barrier Reef. By Caroline Garvey BA (Hons) Travel and Tourism Management . Cairns, Australia- Study Area. The Study Area- Cairns, Australia. . Introduction. One of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. 5,000 visitors in 1948 to 1.9 million in 2005.

nanda
Download Presentation

Educating Backpackers to the Great Barrier Reef

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Educating Backpackers to the Great Barrier Reef By Caroline Garvey BA (Hons) Travel and Tourism Management

  2. Cairns, Australia- Study Area The Study Area- Cairns, Australia.

  3. Introduction • One of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. • 5,000 visitors in 1948 to 1.9 million in 2005. • Majority of these visitors are backpackers (Tourism Australia 2005). • GBRMPA (1984) have outlined the importance of education in their annual reports.

  4. Aim and Objectives • Identify if actions need to be taken to educate backpackers visiting the Great Barrier Reef. • Are the current management strategies of the GBRMPA sufficient in educating the backpacker market? • Create an education model for the backpacker market • Future Recommendations.

  5. Literature Review • ‘The Caribbean Conservation Corporation and Sea Turtle Survival League’ and ‘Hands on Environmental Education for Aloha, Hawaii’. • Ecotourism and Education. • Importance of Interpretation.

  6. Reef Teach education seminar in Cairns.

  7. Methodology Research Process • Grounded Theory • Qualitative Research in January 2006 in Australia. • Mind Mapping (Hussey and Hussey 1997)- education emerged as important topic. • Online forum was set up from October 2006- April 2007.

  8. Analysis of Results 73.3% of backpackers are interested in receiving education when at the reef , the age , group 21-25 are most keen when it comes to education at the reef, Unlike the age group 26-30 with 40.0% of respondents stating that they do not wish to be educated.

  9. Reasons for visiting the Great Barrier Reef.

  10. Only 51.7% of backpacker’s received education onboard before accessing the reef, this shows that many operators are not complying with GBRMPA guidelines in providing onboard interpretation. Importance of Interpretation

  11. Popularity of Reef Teach

  12. Conclusions • Tourist’s needs are changing and are demanding an interactive experience. • Findings were all related to the cost and incentives available to the backpacker market. • Majority of backpackers are on a tight budget as discussed by Scheyvens 2002, and wish to avoid the added cost of education onto their already costly dive trip

  13. Education Model • Permanent interpretation centre • Promote in the Lonely Planet and Greyhound Magazine • Incentives • Ecotourism certificate • Opportunity to act stage. • Brief safety and education seminar on board

  14. Design of education programme Promotion Price and Incentives Certificates Change attitudes Interpretation Opportunity to act Reef Trip Sustainable Behaviour New Education Model

  15. Future Research. • Larger sample size • Suitable methods and places to promote education. • It is unknown exactly how much backpackers are willing to pay and exactly what they expect to receive for this price.

  16. Any Questions?

More Related